Vintage Start 2022 Against Spencer

Vintage 1 – 3 Spencer Grandmasters

Team (all Vintage unless detailed): Frost (Magnets), Silverleaf, Hassaan (Magnets), Harding, Sharpe (Magnets), Cheng (Magnets), Green (Magnets), Beaney C (Magnets), Abdullah (Nomad), Waller (Magnets), Gorbert (Nomad), Tripp, Dunn

Sub not used: Desai

Umpires: Spencer

Scorer: Tripp

Another mixture but less need for introductions. But first an apology and a thanks. Apologies to Matt Foster for selecting him but not telling him – email distribution confusion between Frost and Foster added to old age. Thanks go to Chris Beaney for striking the ball in the exact way to make life easy for the striker.

Spencer turned out a good side but we started as a team and did not let them have the ascendency – every player worked hard and assisted their teammates. Their danger man was, as usual, their left wing – the grey-haired quickie and he was no different than usual – Majid did a good job except for one moment – but he was quick and their defence did know how to find him from distance. And we conceded but still kept fighting, playing some very supportive team hockey but we missed several chances. Dunn made a wise substitution and we drew level by halftime.

The second half was similar – very even with chances at both ends. The only difference being that they took two chances and we took none. Still, it was an enjoyable game – decent hockey, good spirit (despite the occasional dispute with the whistleblowers) but both sides agreed afterwards that a draw would have been a fair result.